Life as a Leach

If you are interested in learning more about Abby's spinal surgeon, I am including a few articles.  He truly is brilliant and widely known as one of the best spinal surgeons in the world.  He only takes the most complicated pediatric cases, and I'm left with mixed emotions that he accepted Abby's case!  All of this is just a tad bit terrifying!  Regardless, we know we are in the best of hands. Top Reasons to Choose Dr. Lenke Article About a Teen Who had a Vertebral Spinal Resection CNN Article About a Teen With a Similar Degree of Kyphosis as Abby Interview with Dr. Lenke

Thank you to all who have reached out to us.  We really appreciate your sweet comments, and especially your prayers.  After Abby was accepted as Dr. Lenke's patient, we prayed that there would be a clear decision about what to do next.  That prayer was definitely answered, even if it wasn't what we had hoped for!  The last few days have been filled with processing, researching (shocker!), questions, and discussions.  Abby is definitely processing and is much more aware this time around. She is nearly 3 years older than she was in her last surgery, and she has some big feelings.  We are helping her work through them and giving her the space to share her thoughts.  She has also started writing in a journal, which I think will help her to process.  It seems like more and more things pop up that she is going to miss because of being in the hospital, and each time brings fresh tears. We have learned quite a bit about the hospital and the surroundin...

My blog app on my phone isn't working right now, which means I can't blog if I don't have access to a desktop computer.  I shared this on Facebook and wanted to make sure any blog readers that aren't Facebook Friends with me know what was up! We went to New York Presbyterian on Friday to meet with Dr. Lenke, who is a world famous spinal surgeon.  Many professionals say he is the best in the world.  W e felt like we did the first time we met Dr. Campbell-like we were in the presence of greatness. Dr. Lenke is very similar to Dr. Campbell in his assuredness and knowledge. Dr. Lenke said nothing good will come out of the wait an d see approach because we know what will continue to happen. Her lungs will continue to decline until we lose our window. He emphatically said that the rib to rib VEPTR is not the right choice for her at this point because her kyphosis is the biggest issue. He said her health is not stable enough to put veptrs in and she would almost definitel...